Scottish Executive

Autism

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4886 by Susan Deacon on 1 December 2000, why the figure for the whole of Scotland is 658 when the figures given for each local authority add up to 701 and whether the total figure for the whole of Scotland is intended to include pupils with autism in local authorities where figures have been suppressed due to there being less than five such pupils.

Nicol Stephen: The information contained in the table for the answer to question S1W-4886 was incorrect. An amended table is provided below with the addition of the figures for 1999. The total figure for Scotland does include the figures which have been suppressed in order to maintain confidentiality.

  


Local Authorities
  

No. of Pupils aged under 12 with Autism
  



1998
  

1999
  



Aberdeen City
  

33
  

37
  



Aberdeenshire
  

51
  

58
  



Angus
  

7
  

15
  



Argyll & Bute
  

12
  

16
  



Clackmannanshire
  

*
  

*
  



Dumfries & Galloway
  

14
  

14
  



Dundee City
  

6
  

9
  



East Ayrshire
  

*
  

*
  



East Dunbartonshire
  

17
  

22
  



East Lothian
  

11
  

14
  



East Renfrewshire
  

17
  

15
  



Edinburgh, City of
  

55
  

79
  



Eilean Siar
  

*
  

*
  



Falkirk
  

15
  

9
  



Fife
  

42
  

50
  



Glasgow City
  

77
  

84
  



Highland
  

71
  

82
  



Inverclyde
  

13
  

11
  



Midlothian
  

14
  

13
  



Moray
  

21
  

23
  



North Ayrshire
  

9
  

*
  



North Lanarkshire
  

41
  

43
  



Orkney Islands
  

*
  

*
  



Perth & Kinross
  

15
  

24
  



Renfrewshire
  

24
  

29
  



Scottish Borders
  

7
  

18
  



Shetland Islands
  

7
  

11
  



South Ayrshire
  

8
  

15
  



South Lanarkshire
  

38
  

38
  



Stirling
  

*
  

12
  



West Dunbartonshire
  

*
  

*
  



West Lothian
  

13
  

19
  



Scotland
  

658
  

778
  



  Notes:

  1. The data was collected by the annual school censuses in September 1998 and 1999.

  2. The above information includes:

  i. children attending special schools with Autistic Spectrum Disorder recorded as their main difficulty in learning, whether or not they have a formal Record of Needs. Pupil age was based on the census date of 14 September 1998 and 13 September 1999.

  ii. children attending mainstream primary schools with Autistic Spectrum Disorder recorded as their main difficulty in learning, who have a Record of Needs. Dates of birth are not available for these pupils – all pupils attending primary schools have therefore been considered as within the scope of the question whereas those at secondary have not.

  iii. pupils attending both publicly funded and independent schools.

  3. These figures do not include:

  i. pupils with autism that also have another learning difficulty which is recorded as their main difficulty.

  ii. pupils with autism attending mainstream primary schools but who have not had a Record of Needs established.

  iii. children with autism but who are not attending school are not included - they may be too young to attend school - they may be to young to attend school or they may be educated elsewhere.

  4. Where a pupil attends a special needs school in one local authority but is funded by a different local authority, the pupil has been shown under the funding authority. All pupils attending primary schools are shown under the local authority of that school.

  5. In order to preserve confidentiality and in keeping with normal statistical practice, figures have been suppressed for cells with less than five pupils. These have been indicated by an *.

Consultation Exercises

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the distribution of documents in the course of consultation exercises.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive is continually looking at ways to develop and enhance its consultation procedures including distribution in line with its commitments to Civic Participation.

  Good Practice Guidance on Consultation has recently been made available to all departments undertaking consultations. It recognises that consultation is an essential in modern government to ensure policy decisions are soundly based on evidence, that they take into account views and experience of those affected by them, that innovative and creative options are considered and that new arrangements are workable.

  The Good Practice Guidance on Consultation derives from the Policy Unit report on Civic Participation which was published last year and is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/government/civicp.pdf.

  That report identified four broad themes which have a bearing on extending distribution and increasing involvement in consultations:

  Good Practice - to sharpen planning and execution of consultations;

  Reaching "civic" Scotland;

  Reaching the wider public;

  Making best use of resources.

  These broad recommendations were further broken-down into 21 actions which have now been implemented through the production of the Good Practice Guidance on Consultation. The guidance covers issues that enhance distribution such as:

  equality mainstreaming;

  use of sampling techniques to ensure all relevant interests are brought within the ambit of the consultation;

  enhancement of the Executive website to maximise the potential of the internet as a consultative tool;

  research into the methods of distribution to determine the most effective ways of reaching the public;

  working closely with the Civic Forum;

  as well as other key improvements such as:

  extending consultations to 12 weeks, and

  summaries to make key issues more accessible.

  This work will continue and a dedicated team within the Executive has been established to regularly update the Good Practice Guidance on Consultations and provide advice to policy areas on effective consultation procedures.

Dentistry

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have died during or as a result of dental treatment in each of the last five years, broken down by age and health board.

Iain Gray: This information is not held centrally.

Drug Misuse

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what conclusions have been reached regarding the future of its Scotland Against Drugs campaign.

Iain Gray: SAD was launched in May 1996 as a cross-party campaign and re-focused in 1998. The current remit and funding of Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) ends on 31 March. The Executive has consulted party leaders and the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse.

  The Executive has concluded that SAD has made a significant contribution to attracting business support for anti-drugs initiatives, and has widened community involvement in fighting drug misuse and its consequences locally. The Executive has therefore agreed to provide funding for SAD of £1.5 million per annum for three years from 1 April 2001, from the £100 million package of new expenditure on drug misuse announced in September 2000. Support for the Scottish Drugs Challenge Fund of £500,000 per annum will continue within the overall core funding, which will also provide for increases in SAD’s Schools, Business and Community Programmes.

  Sir Tom Farmer and Professor Sandy Cameron have agreed to continue as Chairman and Deputy Chairman of SAD. An announcement will be made in March on membership of a new SAD Board of Management and the terms of SAD’s Action Plan, which will contain demanding new targets.

  Following on from my recent announcement on the distribution of the £100 million package of new expenditure on drug misuse, this decision on SAD builds in new breadth to our efforts to harness communities and business in beating drug misuse.

Education

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on teaching Scottish history in schools and whether it plans to change its policy.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive’s policy is to ensure that guidance to education authorities and schools provide ample opportunities for teaching Scottish history at every level of the school curriculum. There are no plans to change current policy.

Electricity

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether present access to the National Grid power supply in the north and islands of Scotland is adequate and, if not, what plans it has to improve such access.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Virtually all of the population of Scotland has access to the electricity grid. However the grid in some remote parts of Scotland is relatively extended and it is not always straightforward for new generation capacity, for example new renewable energy projects, to be connected without costly strengthening. For that reason, we are, with the private sector owners of the electricity grid in Scotland, reviewing its capacity to support more renewable generation capacity in the years ahead.

Farmers

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers have taken their own lives in each of the last five years.

Iain Gray: The information requested is given in the table. When analysing suicides it is conventional to include deaths due to ‘Injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted’. For the sake of clarity, the two categories have also been shown separately in the table.

  


Suicides and undetermined deaths – farmers and farm workers 
  1






1995
  

1996
  

1997
  

1998
  

1999
  

2000 2




Total
  

24
  

15
  

20
  

19
  

14
  

16
  



Suicide
  

17
  

10
  

11
  

13
  

13
  

10
  



Undetermined
  

7
  

5
  

9
  

6
  

1
  

6
  



  Notes:

  1. The code used for farm worker includes farmer’s wife.

  2. Provisional.

Fisheries

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken to determine the reasons for the decline in salmon and sea-trout stocks in Scotland’s rivers and whether any such research considered whether the reasons for the decline in sea-trout were different from the reasons for the decline in salmon.

Rhona Brankin: Research programmes undertaken by scientists at Fisheries Research Services have been developed to identify the degree to which salmon and sea trout numbers have declined. These programmes include research cruises to determine the migration, feeding, growth and survival of salmon smolts during the early part of their marine life; trapping and marking of both salmon and sea trout smolts to estimate marine survival rates; electro-fishing surveys to determine juvenile population densities; and capture of salmon and sea trout soon after their entry to the sea to assess the impact of infestation by parasites.

  Declines in salmon and sea trout stocks in Scotland have been broadly similar except for in the west and north west of the country. In this area, the declines have been more marked than in the rest of the country, particularly in the case of sea trout. For this reason, a research programme based at Shieldaig has been initiated to examine the survival of sea trout smolts once they leave their native river, with particular emphasis being placed on investigating the interactions of sea lice between farmed and wild fish.

  Although these interactions are not fully understood, sea lice from fish farms, especially in enclosed sea lochs, may have led to a reduction in the marine survival of wild salmon and, in particular, sea trout. However, a number of other factors may have affected salmon and sea trout survival, including climate change, land-use change, increase in predators and diseases. The impact of infestation with sea lice relative to the other factors affecting marine survival is not yet known.

Food Safety

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or any of its agencies will be making representations to the BBC or Broadcasting Standards Commission about the content of the BBC documentary "Warning from the Wild: The Price of Salmon, broadcast on 7 January 2000".

Susan Deacon: On the matters of food safety which formed the basis of the programme in question, we are advised by the Food Standards Agency. They have informed me that a formal complaint was sent to the BBC on 5 January 2001 in relation to the manner in which they had conducted themselves during the making of the programme. Following transmission, the agency intends to make a further complaint about the content of the programme itself.

Glasgow City Council

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it plans to have with Glasgow City Council regarding their possible withdrawal from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in protest at the 2001-02 to 2003-04 local government settlement.

Peter Peacock: This is a matter for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Glasgow City Council.

Health

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to keeping a public record of deaths and suicides directly associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Iain Gray: All information on cause of death collected when a death is registered is held on public registers. The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) collates this information and codes the cause of death data using the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The Ninth Revision of the ICD, which was used from 1979 to 1999, did not have a specific code for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. However, the Tenth Revision of the ICD, which GROS has been using since 2000, does have a relevant code. This would assist with the identification of relevant cases in the future.

Hearing Aids

Mr Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10021 by Susan Deacon on 5 October 2000, how many (a) analogue hearing aids, (b) digitally controlled analogue hearing aids and (c) hearing aids with both digital audio processing and digital control systems were provided by NHS Trusts in each of the last three years and what proportion of the total number of hearing aids provided by NHS Trusts in each of these years each of these figures represents.

Mr Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the (a) analogue hearing aids, (b) digitally controlled analogue hearing aids and (c) hearing aids with both digital audio processing and digital control systems provided by NHS Trusts in each of the last three years were provided to patients aged (i) 11 or under, (ii) 12 to 18, (iii) 19 to 65 and (iv) over 65.

Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally but can be obtained directly from Trusts who are responsible for keeping records of the equipment they issue to patients to meet their clinical needs.

Hedges

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to make an announcement in relation to the consultation paper on fast-growing hedges issued in January 2000.

Mr Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-12936 on 31 January 2001.

Hospitals

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it has made available to tackle the causes of hospital-acquired infection in the current financial year, broken down by health board.

Susan Deacon: Financial allocations are made to health boards on the basis of the overall health need of their populations. It is for health boards to distribute and NHS Trusts to apply their allocations in line with their assessment of local needs and national priorities. The Scottish Executive has made record resources available to the NHS in Scotland this year and will provide a further £1.2 billion extra in the three years to 2003-04.

  Preventing and controlling hospital-acquired infection is an important issue for the NHS in Scotland and is a key part of the responsibilities of every NHS Trust. The Scottish Health Plan Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change published on 14 December, makes clear that every local health care system will be expected to deliver the service standards to be established by the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland on infection control, cleanliness, and other matters. A joint Health Department/NHS working group is currently reviewing existing guidance and preparing relevant standards. These standards will be applied to NHS Trusts once the work is complete.

Hospitals

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the antibiotic Linezolid will be recommended for use as part of NHS Trusts’ strategies to treat hospital-acquired infections.

Susan Deacon: Tackling hospital-acquired infection is an important issue for the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Executive supports the service in its efforts. All NHS Hospitals Trusts have infection control teams which investigate and recommend action on each incidence of hospital-acquired infection, within an overall Trust policy on infection control. The action to be taken in individual cases will depend on the nature of the infection.

  The antibiotic Linezolid has recently been licensed for use in certain severe and life threatening bacterial infections.

  The Scottish Executive has no specific policy on the use of individual antibiotics. However, the Executive recommends prudent prescribing of such drugs and has produced guidance on prescribing as one of a series of measures to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Hospitals

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many allegations of sexual assault in hospitals have been recorded in each of the past five years.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that NHS Trusts and local authorities provide care, treatment and support for patients with mental illness in line with the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 and Scottish Executive circular CCD2/1999 and how such provision is monitored.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive works closely with the NHS, local authorities, inspection and support groups as well as the Scottish Health Advisory Service and Mental Welfare Commission, in their monitoring and advisory roles, to ensure that appropriate standards of care and treatment are being provided. A Mental Health and Well Being Support Group has been set up to help agencies implement the Framework For Mental Health and will assess their progress with that agenda. The framework provides a template for delivering integrated and comprehensive support services for people with mental health problems.

Prison Service

Mrs Lyndsay McIntosh (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were in prisons and young offenders institutions in each year since 1992, broken down by classification of crime; what percentage of these prisoners had previous convictions, broken down by the number of previous convictions; what the average sentence was for each crime, and what average time was actually served, all broken down into (a) women, (b) men, (c) young women and (d) young men.

Mr Jim Wallace: Information on prisoners in penal establishments by crime classification is not available for years before 1997.

  The available information on prisoners in penal establishments by crime classification is given for 1997 to 1999 in tables 1-3 "Main crime/offence of remand and sentenced prisoners in custody on 30 June", a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no’s 11181, 11182 and 11183 respectively). These tables distinguish adult prisoners from young offenders and are broken down by gender.

  Information on previous convictions of prisoners in penal establishments is not held centrally.

  The available information on average sentence imposed on prisoners received into custody for selected crimes and offences is given in tables 22 and 26 of the statistical bulletins Prison Statistics Scotland, 1997, Prison Statistics Scotland, 1998 and Prison Statistics Scotland, 1999 published by the Scottish Executive, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no’s 11178, 11179 and 11180 respectively). Equivalent information on the average time served is not available.

Renewable Energy

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote the manufacture of wave energy equipment in Scotland.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Wave energy was supported under the third round of the previous Scottish Renewables Obligation and, as a result, three Scottish companies obtained contracts to develop wave power devices. One of these is now in operation on Islay. We are currently consulting on detailed proposals for a new Renewables Obligation (Scotland) and on what further support might be needed by particular renewable energy technologies in future.

Road Safety

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage volunteers to act as trainers to young cyclists in areas of social deprivation.

Sarah Boyack: The recruitment of volunteer trainers for young cyclists is a matter for schools and police and local authority road safety units. The Scottish Executive intends to commission, early next year, a survey of cycle training provision in Scottish schools and the number of children trained. This will provide baseline information on cycle training in Scottish schools and will highlight areas with low levels of training provision.

  In addition, the Executive intends to commission, early next year, research into road safety initiatives, including cycle training initiatives, in deprived areas. Guidelines to be produced in the light of the research will advise local authorities, community councils and community groups on how to establish and run a road safety initiative. The research will contribute towards the Scottish Executive’s commitment to reduce social exclusion.

  The Scottish Road Safety Campaign, funded by the Scottish Executive, is developing a resource for road safety officers to use when training volunteer trainers.

Scottish Executive Announcements

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the occasions last year and so far this year when ministers have appeared on news bulletins or current affairs programmes to explain Scottish Executive policy and what its policy is on responding to requests for (a) studio interviews and (b) any other type of interviews.

Mr Tom McCabe: The listing requested is not available. Arrangements for interviews are made with media organisations on a case-by-case basis.

Scottish Executive Staff

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive which recruitment agencies it uses.

Angus MacKay: Scottish Executive recruitment is conducted by officials with support, where appropriate, from the following external agencies:

  Thomson Partners

  Pertemps

  Kelly Services

  Capita RAS

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed update on the preparations by the Scottish Qualifications Authority for the 2001 exam diet.

Mr Jack McConnell: I announced in response to question S1W-12934 that a copy of my first report to Parliament on the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s progress towards Diet 2001 was sent to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee on 31 January. A copy has also been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 11055).

Scottish Transport Group Pension Scheme

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to ex-gratia payments to the Scottish Transport Group Pension scheme members, what the anticipated allocation will be between the Transport Operatives Pension Scheme and the Staff Pension Fund.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish ministers are considering the basis for distribution and following the wind-up of the Scottish Transport Group we will be bringing forward proposals on distribution for the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

Teachers

Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of teacher vacancies was in (i) nursery schools, (ii) primary schools and (iii) secondary schools for each year since 1997 in (a) Scotland and (b) each education authority.

Mr Jack McConnell: As you are aware I have recently sent a report on the supply of teachers to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee detailing the background to the current position on the collection of information relevant to teacher supply and outlining planned improvements to current methods. Copies of this report have been made available to committee members and it has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. A response to your specific question can be found at paragraphs 28-36 of the report.

Teachers

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, for each of the last five years, what the average age was of (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers.

Mr Jack McConnell: Information is only available for 1998 and 1994.

  


At September 1998
  



Average age of primary teachers
  

43
  



Average age of secondary teachers
  

43
  



  


At September 1994
  



Average age of primary teachers
  

42
  



Average age of secondary teachers
  

42
  



  As you are aware I have recently sent a report on the supply of teachers to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee detailing the background to the current position on the collection of information relevant to teacher supply and outlining planned improvements to current methods. Copies of this report have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre for the information of all members. This information available on the average age of teachers will be inserted into the report as Annex G.

Teachers

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school chemistry teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many of these have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school English teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many of these have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school maths teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many of these have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school technical studies teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many of these have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school biology teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled secondary school physics teaching posts there currently are in each local authority area and how many of these have been unfilled for more than three months in each case.

Mr Jack McConnell: I have recently sent a report on the supply of teachers to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee detailing the background to the current position on the collection of information relevant to teacher supply and outlining planned improvements to current methods. Copies of this report have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 10751). A response to your specific question can be found at paragraphs 28-36 of the report.